[Mac OS X] Unarchive and decompress your files with The Unarchiver

The Unarchiver is a program that will decompress and unarchive nearly any file on your Mac. This is especially useful if you are constantly downloading files from the internet. It is nearly impossible to download lots of files these days without running into compressed files. This app makes those files much easier to deal with.

What is it and what does it do

Main Functionality

This application has a very basic purpose, to unarchive and decompress any file you throw at it. It does so very well and isn’t really meant to do anything else. It uses little, additional feature to make the experience much more enjoyable.

Pros

Supports large amounts of file formats

Can open older, obsolete formats as well

Recognizes and correctly unarchives filenames

Cons

Cannot view files inside archives

Cannot see other information about archives

Doesn’t automatically unarchive files to specific place

Does not mention which specific files cause errors

Cannot unzip multiple files

Discussion

The Unarchiver is a very simple application that will decompress any compressed file you throw at it. It supports nearly every type of compressed file. This means you will be able to easily handle .zip, .rar and tons of others. It will even decompile some .exe files and all ISO and BIN files. This is fantastic because it will literally be the only tool you will ever need to decompress files. It makes this one application an all-inclusive package.

The way in which it handles filenames is really brilliant. The Unarchiver attempts to read the filename from the archive, and automatically renames the file. This means that you can download files that are in other languages too. When you decompress these files, they should appear properly without any odd characters to worry about.

There are unfortunately some features that are missing. For example, you cannot look inside of an archive before you unarchive it. In addition, you are unable to open an individual file without unarchiving it. For all of these features, you must buy a separate program called The Archive Browser. This is extremely annoying because it ruins the concept of a free, all-in-one unarchiving application. Additionally, you cannot unzip multiple files at once. This is very inconvenient if you are dealing with many downloaded files. While that can be worked around, The Unarchiver constantly nags you to find out where you want them unarchived to, instead of just doing it to the source location.

Conclusion and download link

Generally speaking, this app has one job that it does very well. It is extremely simple and works significantly better than other apps out there. However, the additional program that is required for extended features is just annoying. It would be better to charge for the program and then include all of the features. This would would offer a more consolidated package. Even though these aspects and other missing features hinder this app, it is still one the best unarchivers on the market.

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About Brendan Lynch

When he's not studying Music in college, Brendan spends his time writing all sorts of technology articles. Brendan's expertise ranges from Android and Linux, all the way to Mac OS X. He loves anything having to do with technology, so he spends time to make sure his articles are has honest as possible.